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The Kamloops RibFest at Riverside Park. (Photo via Kamloops RibFest)
The organizers of Ribfest in Kamloops are confident they’ll be back at Riverside Park for next summer’s edition of the annual event.
It comes as the City is looking to keep areas of the downtown park off-limits to trucks and heavy machinery, in a bid to reduce the damage to the trees and turf after major events like Canada Day, the Buskers Festival, and Ribfest.
“The turf and irrigation damages, everybody can see that and recognize it immediately following these events. What people aren’t seeing is the damage to the mature trees,” Michael Doll, the city’s Green Space and Natural Resources Supervisor, told the Civic Operations Committee in August.
“A less noticeable cost is the stress placed on the trees by having the root system continuously compacted by heavy equipment and traffic in general. Many of the large, mature trees in Riverside Park are showing signs of stress due to the high volume and heavy traffic these large events bring, which will lead a declining tree canopy over the long term.”
Doll says the estimated value of trees in Riverside Park is $9 million, noting events at Riverside Park were still held successfully this summer, despite parts of the park behind a fence due to ongoing construction work.
In his report, Doll said the area considered off-limits to vehicles setting up for future events includes the space between the pickle ball and tennis courts and the river, and north of the lawn bowling area towards the river, as pictured below.
“We got to see what [events] would look like. And despite some pushback from the organizers, because they’re used to setting up in some of these red zones, the events went off and they worked. And I think it is doable,” Doll said
“I think in the future, if we improve Heritage House parking lot and get things like water and power there to make it easy for them to set their trucks up. It’ll be even easier in the future for them.”
The 2022 edition of RibFest raised a total of $128,800, with spokesperson Bryce Herman noting organizers will be in discussions with the City about the 2023 edition, which is set to take place between Aug. 11 and 13.
“The city has been an incredibly great partner to work with and we know that that footprint is going to be shrunk down to a similar sized footprint to what we had this year, but it worked well,” Herman said.
“We managed to put more through the park that we had in history. But the challenge for us is getting all of the people that want to participate into that park area without having to put them on asphalt directly out into a parking lot or whatever.”
He expects there to be “continued adjustments” heading into RibFest 2023, noting organizers had to redraw the footprint of this year’s festival “probably three or four times.”
“The Rotary Club itself has definitely said, you know what, confirmed. We’re moving forward. There is going to be some continued conversation with the city. The administration with the city has been wonderful to work with at this point, and I’m sure that will continue to be so,” Herman said.
“Of course, they’re a little distracted these days with a small election. Once we get on the other side of that, I think everybody’s heads will be clear and we’ll be able to sit down and get things done.”
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Photo via City of Kamloops